Between Sleep and Awake: A Harbinger's Tale
by Pha1ange5
Summary: What would have happened if Booth hadn't balked in Harbingers when he told Brennan he loved her? Rated M.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own any BONES except for the ones in my body.

**A/N: ** This story was written for Rynogeny at Bonesology for her 50th birthday as part of the "50 Shades of B&B" challenge. If you get a chance you should definitely check out the other stories under the communal author **50ShadesChallenge**. The link is in my favourites.

The prompt that I originally chose was "reunion sex any time during the series" but when I thought about what instances we'd seen them reunite, it was always during between finales and premieres: Season 1/2 after Brennan spent the summer with Russ, Season 4/5 after she came back from Guatemala, and Season 5/6 after she came back from Maluku, and Season 7/8 when she inevitably comes back from being on the run. Harbinger's was one of my favourite premieres, so I decided to take us back to that magical time when we were all still full of hope about their future (lol) and make it happen the way I would have wanted it to. Enjoy!

o-o-o-o-o

**Between Sleep and Awake: A Harbingers Tale**

She was in Guatemala.

Three weeks, digging up Aztecs.

She had said that she could stay, that she didn't have to go, but he had insisted that he'd be alright. To be honest, he knew she needed the space, and in some ways he needed it too. He'd thought that by her being physically gone he'd be able to sort out the mess that that tumour had made of his brain, but still, not all of the symptoms were gone, particularly one.

He was still in love with Bones.

True, he wasn't calling her "Bren" anymore and he didn't still think they were married, but he couldn't shake the feelings that he had when he was around her. Come to think of it, they may have even been there before his brain got scrambled, but he couldn't be sure of it, and that's where his problem lay.

He thought about her all day and dreamed about her all night.

Who was he kidding? He was still a mess.

Nonetheless, he was determined that Sweets gave him the all clear so that he could get back to work. With her. Today.

She was coming home today.

His stomach in all kinds of knots, he opened the door and walked into Sweets' office, hoping that his veil of confidence fooled his young but intuitive friend.

o-o-o-o-o

She was exhausted.

Three weeks in Guatemala, working 16 hour days in the searing heat digging up precious human remains from the Aztec empire.

She was honoured that Dr. Rynogeny had invited her on the dig. It had been scheduled months ago, before Booth's emergency brain surgery. After that happened, she had decided that she wasn't going to go, but Booth had insisted. As much as she wanted to oversee Booth's recovery, she knew there wasn't much for her to do and the doctors had insisted he would spend no more than an additional few days in hospital. Add to that the anxiety of Booth's initial confusion over reality and she'd felt that familiar pressure to get away.

She knew it was cowardly, but she needed to clear her head, and the best way to do that was to go and just work until she was too exhausted to think.

Unfortunately, this time the tactic hadn't worked.

Booth had been on her mind constantly. The uncanny adsorption of her story into his thoughts as he'd been comatose had shaken her. She'd started writing it to try and distract herself from her worry over her partner, but as her fingers flew over the keys she'd known that she was indulging in her illogical fantasies for him. For those three days, she'd let her subconscious take over and wrote from the heart – a story about two people, very alike herself and Booth, making a life together despite their differences. She'd never intended anyone to know about it; thoughts such as those were futile. She knew she would never have what "Bren" and "Mr. B" had…a life shared with someone she loved.

She'd thought that by deleting the story no one would ever know about her fantasy world, and then he awoke and simply recited it all back to her and his doctors. Concerned for his mental state and slightly horrified that he'd remembered every detail, she vehemently set out to set the record straight to him.

They were work partners and friends – Bones and Booth. Nothing more.

Regardless, deep down inside, there was still that tiny spark inside of her that wanted that not to be true.

But how could he love someone like her? A cold fish, someone who was incapable of giving him, a warm and loving person, that same warmth and love in return.

Booth and Bones, and nothing more.

These thoughts resonated with her during her trip, and as her plane made its final touchdown, she resolved to stick to this mantra. Love was simply a chemical manifestation of hormonal signalling in the brain. It, like all other chemical signals, would pass.

And all that would be left is Booth and Bones: Partners. And nothing more.

o-o-o-o-o

She'd hugged him SO tightly.

If he'd thought he'd be able to keep his feelings in control, all of that went out the window as soon as her arms had gone around him. Thankfully, he'd managed to reign it in and pull away before she saw through his guise.

She was wearing one of his favourite looks – her eco-warrior anthropologist look. She looked so happy to see him, and his heart melted.

"What took you so long to recover?" she asked.

There is no way he is going to tell her about the lasting side-effects he had after she left.

"Oh, umm, don't worry, nothing's wrong with me. I'm 110%"

"You know there's nothing more than 100%, right?"

Typical Bones – all facts, all the time.

Things were going well until Angela interrupted their reunion. In one fell swoop she managed to hand them a strange case, tell them that her psychic said that Bones and he were "linked in a profound and spiritual manner", and reminded them of the unspoken elephant in the room: a pregnancy that never happened except in his dreams.

Just when he thought they'd be able to move forward, wherever forward led…

What better time to jump into work to distract from all of the things left unsaid?

o-o-o-o-o

He was acting strangely.

First, he dressed oddly in a plain black tie and socks, then he celebrated at the crime scene, which he had explicitly told her not to do in the past. And then…well, he didn't offer to have breakfast with her.

Which shouldn't be strange. She should be grateful that he has once again embraced his strong work ethic. Despite that, his leaving, disk in hand without even so much as goodbye, strangely left her feeling disappointed and bereft.

These nuances to altered human behaviour would normally be obsolete to her, but for some reason, she's noticed all of these small changes, perhaps because she normally spent so much time with him. She hadn't realized how pervasive his whole persona has been in her life, at least until before he went into surgery. That whole experience upended her, left her feeling helpless, alone, and terrified she would never be able to speak to him again.

It was why she had deleted her story, why she pushed away all of the emotions she was feeling about him, towards him and tried once again to focus.

She couldn't think about "them" now. There were 12 skeletons to catalogue and assemble.

o-o-o-o-o

Cam figured it out in one shot, damn her.

He's not quite sure why he went to her. Maybe because she's known him the longest and she'd be straight with him. She was after all one of his oldest friends. She definitely didn't pull any punches.

It felt good to talk to someone. He couldn't go on avoiding Bones. He needed to figure out what to do.

Her advice resonated in his head…

"Be sure about your feelings because if you crack that shell, and you change your mind, she'll die of loneliness before she'll ever trust anyone ever again."

Was he sure? He felt sure, like everything from before had finally clicked into place. There'd always been tension between he and Bones, but there was a line that they'd drawn, and before…well, something had kept him from crossing that line.

Now that he'd had a taste of her, of a life with her, it didn't make sense to keep towing that line.

He needed to set things straight.

o-o-o-o-o

He could have sworn she was flirting with him.

Okay, fine, she was talking about the hole in the victim's skull, but she explained it to him with that glint in her eye and smile on her face that just felt…flirtatious.

He could barely focus on what she was saying. Something about bevelling…right, he was killed from the inside out.

Things were just starting to get interesting when Angela interrupted us again.

More work, less flirting. For now.

o-o-o-o-o

Was he flirting with her?

In hindsight, he was quite conversational when she was showing him the wound on the victim's skull. He had that smile on his face similar to when he was trying to charm her, and then Angela came in and it all faded away.

And then…then he wanted her to kiss him.

On the forehead, but still…he'd never asked for that before.

Ridiculous! Why was this of concern to her? Perhaps because she was tempted. She, prudent as ever, forewent the indulgence due to its frivolity, laughed it off, and now she regretted it.

Ridiculous.

o-o-o-o-o

Sweets was an ass. Seriously.

Where the hell did Sweets get off telling him that his feelings for Bones are a product of his fried brain and not for real?!

"Your feelings are not real and will fade away like every other symptom of your coma…"

Why is it then, that he felt like he had feelings for her before, but it didn't show up in the scan?

His heart ached at the prospect of it not being real, almost as much as when he first woke up and they told him that the life he thought he had was not real.

"So, if you breach those defenses and it turns out you don't really love her…"

He loved her. He knew it.

But was he to lead with his heart, or with his brain?

o-o-o-o-o

He saved her life.

She didn't know what would have happened had he not arrived just in time. She had fought hard, but Dr. Leacock was stronger than her and she'd been trapped.

She shuddered at the thought.

He'd held her so tightly. She hadn't meant to cry, but the pain radiating through her arm and the adrenaline running through her bloodstream had made her emotional, and for once she gave in and let him hold her.

In all his murmuring comfort, he'd kissed her and said everything would be okay.

For once, she let him take care of her, and it had felt wonderful.

She'd ruined his shirt with her blood. Fortunately the wound hadn't been serious, but they'd given her medication to ease the pain. It clouded her brain and made her responses less sharp.

She supposed that this was how normal people felt all the time.

To distract herself from the dull ache in her arm, she'd went in search of their psychic suspect.

She found Avalon in the back of the apartment, sorting through her Tarot cards.

It was futile and meaningless, she knew, but nonetheless she was fascinated by the insights the psychic shared about her past. Surely she had learned something in her interactions with her and Booth to glean something about her past?

"The riddle you can't solve is how somebody could love you."

Pain spasmed through her chest despite her confident response. How could she know that?

"The answer to the question that you're afraid to say out loud is, yes, he knows the truth of you, and he is dazzled by that truth."

A knot formed in her throat.

How could he ever be dazzled by someone like her? If nothing else, she was dazzled by him.

o-o-o-o-o

She could have died.

Even Caroline's attempts to cheer him up and encourage him hadn't taken that fear away.

So close…had he been a few seconds too late...he shuddered at the thought.

Either way, as he'd gripped her arm and tried to soothe her, all he'd kept thinking was, "I could have lost her. She could have died without ever knowing…"

Which was why he'd decided to take Cam's advice and go with his lion heart, Sweets be damned.

o-o-o-o-o

He took Bones for a walk to try and clear his head of the case and work up the courage to talk to her.

"Fargood is going to get away with mass murder."

She was trying to spark conversation, but his mind was elsewhere.

"You know, I don't wanna talk about work."

"Well what do you want to talk about?"

How was he supposed to start this conversation? He stopped at the corner, gathering his thoughts.

"You all right?" She looked at him with concern.

"Not really. I just, I have something that I wanna say to you from inside my heart."

Revert to facts, Temperance.

"Blood is in your heart. The idea that the heart is the seat of love and strength of character is ancient, but metaphoric. I mean, in reality these qualities are based in the amygdala, which is part of the brain."

There she goes again, always with the facts. He'd had her blood stained on his heart, literally. Did that count as too symbolic for her?

"No, I mean, ever since I've woke up from my coma I've been wanting to say something to you, about you."

She looked at him, puzzled.

"Well why didn't you say something earlier?"

She was exasperating to talk to sometimes.

"'Cuz I just, I just wanted to finish this case. You know, to make sure that I'm back, that, that you know I'm me again."

"Well does the fact that we didn't close the case give you doubts?"

"No, we did the best that we can. Hold on, you don't, you don't think that I'm fully back?"

"No, I know you're fully back."

She sounded so confident.

"You do?"

How could she be so sure when he was still so confused on some things?

"Well, you're wearing your socks."

Evidence. She always looked for the evidence.

"Oh, yeah."

He swallowed hard. If he was going to go for broke, he had to be completely honest.

"Well, you know…there are still some things I'm still working out, but it's slowly getting better."

A woman walking her silky terrier walked in between them, forcing a pause in the conversation. They kept walking, in silence for a bit. She thought about the little things she had noticed him doing differently in the last few days, and he thought about how he was going to convince her that his feelings for her were something that he definitely wasn't confused about.

"So, what did you want to tell me before?"

It was now or never. He stopped to look her in the eye.

"That I love you."

The world stopped on its axis. The air rushed out of her lungs. Her eyes widened in shock. He loved her? Was this one of the things he was still confused about from his coma dream? Oh God…

He held his breath, waiting for her to say something…anything.

"Booth…"

And then, the universe decided to intervene.

"You two got a moment?" Caroline chirped from her car as she pulled up beside them.

They stared at each other for what felt like eternity (but was only for a second) before turning to their colleague to get back to business.

o-o-o-o-o

She kept glancing at him surreptitiously, trying to see if he was as affected by his own words as she was.

He loved her.

How could that possibly be?

He was simply confused again, willing his alternative life into reality. Sweets had warned her about this when he first awoke.

What was she to do?

Booth tried to avoid looking at her. Maybe if they act like nothing happened, then they'll just let it pass, just like the 50 other nuanced moments that they had shared in the past.

But, he didn't want to let this go. No, they would have to talk this through, if nothing else than to figure out where to go from here.

They just had to wrap up this case first.

He glanced over to her briefly as he handcuffed Fargood. She was talking to Avalon. He strolled over to them once he was finished reading his suspect the charges against him.

He glanced tentatively at his partner before offering, "This is usually when we go and drink."

Avalon smiled at the two of them before parting.

"You two are going to keep doing things as usual. My cards tell me this all works out sooner than you'd think."

Booth just smiled hesitantly before nodding his head goodbye. He sincerely hoped she was right.

Brennan glanced between the two of them, trying to figure out what Avalon meant.

"What will work out?"

He cleared his throat and simply said, "Nothing, Bones. I'm sure she meant the case against Fargood."

She looked at him with hesitation, clearly wanting to say something, but for once she thought carefully about what she wanted to say.

Booth dropped off the case paperwork, purposely avoiding her gaze, then squared his shoulders and turned to her.

"Booth-"

"Let's go grab that drink, shall we?" he interrupted her, casually guiding her towards the elevator.

They walked to the Founding Fathers in silence, he thinking about how to pick up the conversation they had had before, her wondering if he'd have to go back to the hospital for more testing.

He tried to ease into the conversation.

"You know Bones, I'm really glad you're home. I missed you while you were in Guatemala."

He smiled nervously as he glanced at her, holding the door open to the bar.

As they settled into their seats at their usual table, she found she could not contain her worry any longer.

"Booth, what exactly did you mean before, when you told me that you loved me?"

He looked at her for a moment, then drank his whiskey in one gulp before looking her straight in the eyes, his gaze softening as he simply spoke from his heart.

"I meant exactly what it sounded like, Bones. I love you, romantically."

Her eyes widened, almost in horror, as she thought about those four days in the hospital after he woke up. He had been so sure then, when it had been a figment of his imagination…well, of both of theirs…

She shook her head vehemently.

"No…Booth, you're confused. I think you need to go see the doctor again."

He knew this would be difficult. He grasped her hand on the table, squeezing gently to get her attention away from the thoughts surely swirling through her head. He knew he'd have to be patient.

"No Bones, I'm not. I know what I'm feeling, and it's not a figment of my imagination. Ever since you got home, I knew that what I was feeling then, what I'm feeling now, is REAL. I love you…I think I have for a long time."

A knot formed in her throat, making it difficult to speak.

She stood up suddenly, pulling her hand away vehemently.

"NO Booth, you don't!"

The anguished look on her face crushed him as she turned and rushed to exit the bar.

He quickly threw some bills on the table before chasing her down outside on the street.

"BONES!" he yelled as he caught up to her, stepping in front of her to prevent her from walking.

He grasped her arm and shook it, willing her to look at him. It had started to rain while they had been in the Founding Fathers.

He couldn't tell if she was crying of if it was the rain that she was blinking away as she looked up at him.

"Bones, talk to me."

"There's something wrong Booth. You're confused. You don't love me…you can't."

"What do you mean? Why can't I love you? It may have taken brain surgery to finally make me realize what I've been feeling for you, but I know that it's real. I've felt it right from the beginning."

"That is ludicrous, Booth. Perhaps attraction, yes, but love? Love isn't real. You're letting your dream fantasy colour your real world experiences, and you need to see a doctor."

She tried to walk past him but he stopped her, grasping her by both arms.

"Then why did you write that story? Why did you create a world in which two people love each other and share a life together? The story must mean something to you. You were the one that created the world that I lived for those three days."

She looked at him in anguish. What could she say that wouldn't ring false?

"It was just a story, Booth. Just something to pass the time. It meant nothing."

He recoiled at that, gritting his teeth. She seemed determined to deter him, confuse him. He wasn't going to give in.

"Then why did the characters have our names, Bones? Why were they called 'Mr. B' and 'Bren'? Why would you name them after us if they didn't mean something to you, if the story didn't mean something to you?"

She couldn't look away from him, from his determined brown eyes as they willed her to speak the truth. The truth she was afraid to face.

She just stared at him for what felt like forever, the rain falling heedlessly around them. Finally, not able to accept the hope taking shape in his eyes, she looked down at his heaving chest and whispered falteringly,

"I…I can't be what you want me to be, Booth. I will never be what 'Bren' was to 'Mr. B'. I'm not suitable for you. You deserve so much more than me. I could never live up to your expectations in a relationship, and in the end I would only have hurt you and ruined our partnership. I can't take that risk."

The anguish in her voice was like a kick to the gut. He thought carefully about her words before replying.

Slowly, he lifted her chin up with his finger, forcing her to make eye contact.

"Bones…I don't want 'Bren'. I want a talented anthropologist who has an open heart that is often overshadowed by her brilliant mind. I want the woman who has stood by my side for the last five years, who has been my confidant, my friend, and my voice of reason and truth. I want the person who has challenged me every day to be better. I want you – just you. I love you just the way you are, Bones. All I'm asking is for you to give us a chance."

Her eyes glistened with tears as she listened to his speech, wishing and hoping that he was speaking the truth.

Slowly, he pulled her toward him and kissed her gently on the lips, once, twice, three times…each time savouring the sweet taste of her lips. On the third kiss, she slowly responded, his lips lingering in a caress over hers that seemed to make time stop.

"Wait…" she said breathlessly, as he slowly pulled away for air.

"I need to know…to make sure you really are aware of reality. When was the first time you kissed me?"

He smiled easily at her question, knowing the answer instantly.

"Well, if memory serves me well, I think you kissed me first, on a night very similar to this one, during the first case we ever worked on. You propositioned me, kissed me, then told me tequila was the reason why we couldn't spend the night together," he murmured, his lips a whisper away from hers.

She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at his answer, reassuring her in some small way that not every memory was lost to him.

She nodded in remembrance, a warm flush rushing through her at the husky timbre of his voice.

"Tell me, Bones…will this night end differently than that one? Five years in, I still think this might be going somewhere. Are you willing to take that risk?"

He gazed deeply into her eyes, the honesty of his feelings making them shine brilliantly by the moon. She knew she should have felt frightened by the intensity within them, but in this moment she let herself just feel, and what she felt was love…and desire.

"I…I would like to finish what we started back then."

He kissed her deeply then, tugging her tighter against him as his lips ravished hers in a hungry kiss that tangled their tongues together in a playful dance.

He smirked satisfactorily as he briefly turned to flag a cab down, not wanting to risk her changing her mind before they got to either of their cars. Besides, he didn't think either of them would be able to focus on driving.

A cab pulled up almost immediately, at the ready near the bar for late hour customers.

Booth stepped back to open the car door for her. Motioning towards the door, he smiled at her and asked, "My place or yours?"

She paused for a moment, taking in his handsome face, his outstretched hand, and his confident smile. She knew that this decision could change everything, and that it wasn't too late to take it all back, but for once something inside of her stirred and rose up, letting her emotions take over her mind.

"Yours," she whispered huskily as she grazed by him to get into the car.

He barely had time to give the driver his address before her mouth was on his, this time taking his breath away.

o-o-o-o-o

Brennan threw a fistful of bills at the driver when they pulled up to Booth's apartment, not heeding how much money she actually gave him.

They stumbled clumsily from the cab, dishevelled and disoriented, before he took her hand and lead her up the stairs to his apartment. Both were breathing heavily by the time they reached his door, but whether it was because of the climb or remnants of their make-out session in the car, neither were sure.

A chance glance over at her, hair mussed, her blue eyes glinting in the low light of the hallway made his heart skip a beat.

This was really happening. He couldn't quite believe it.

His hands shakily inserted the key into the lock and with a slight nudge the door gave way, leading to the possibilities within.

Her breathing hitched as he grabbed her hand and slowly brought her into his apartment. As he closed the door, they stood facing each other in his hallway, both wondering who would make the first move.

Searching her face for a moment, he looked to see if there was any hesitation on her part, but all he saw was openness and an intensity in her eyes that he'd only ever seen glimpses of.

He slowly took a step forward and pulled her towards him, his hand burying into her silky hair as he kissed her long and languorously, drawing her lower lip into his mouth in a gentle suckle that caused her to release a quiet but arousing moan.

Encouraged by her reaction, his mouth left hers momentarily as it continued down to focus on the curve between her shoulder and neck as his hands moved to caress her waist. He gently tugged to undo the belt around her waist and it fell unceremoniously to the floor with a soft thud.

At this, Brennan snaked her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him still and coaxing his mouth back to hers. As her mouth ravished his, her hands found his necktie and pulled at the knot, loosening it, evoking a groan from deep in his throat. She moved her mouth away just long enough for her to pull the tie off, then continued her assault on his lips, their tongues brushing rhythmically as her nimble hands began to unbutton his shirt.

"Maybe we should move this into the bedroom, huh?" he rasped as she moved to graze her lips against his jaw line.

She broke contact from his skin with a moist kiss, then breathlessly nodded as he grasped her hand and lead her to the back of his apartment.

Once in his room, he pulled his loosened shirt over his head. Brennan gasped as the movement revealed his expansive toned chest and shoulders.

He took a moment to just let her stare, before gently turning her around. He placed a moist kiss on the nape of her neck, then slowly pulled the zipper down her dress as he followed its progression down the curve of her spine, finally grazing the soft skin of her shoulders with his hands to push the dress off at the sleeves. The grey dress fell smoothly down to the floor in a pool against her feet.

Swallowing hard, he turned her again to face him, taking in every inch of her luminescent skin. She wore a simple satiny black bra and panty set which cupped her creamy breasts perfectly and highlighted her toned body.

Booth shook his head slightly in awe before whispering, "I knew you were beautiful Bones, but…whew…"

At his words she tilted her head defiantly and stood straighter, her face flushing at the compliment.

"You're aroused," she said pointedly, glancing at the straining bulge below his waistline.

"You bet I am," he threw back, starting to unbutton his belt. She quickly moved forward and stopped his movements, brushing his hands away.

"Here, let me," she said huskily as she tugged at the leather to pull the pin out of the notch.

As his belt gave way she pulled to remove it completely before her hands moved to the button at his waist. His abs tightened as her hands grazed his stomach, and she felt his erection grow in response as she slid the zipper down.

In one fell swoop he quickly pushed his pants down and stepped out of them as he moved towards her again, running his hands up her waist to cup her breasts as he walked her to the edge of the bed. He grasped her nape once more in a rough kiss as his other hand moved to her back to undo the clasp on her bra. It sprung apart with one flick of the wrist while Brennan moved her arm across to stop it from falling off. He gently slid each strap off her shoulders, one by one, trailing kisses down the curve of each breast before gingerly moving her injured arm out of the way to let the bra trail off her body.

He kissed her palm making her skin sing as his fingers trailed back to her waist to nimbly pick her up and place her on the centre of the bed.

Seeing her lying there, mostly naked, on his bed was about the most awesome sight he had ever seen. Momentarily frozen in the moment, he stood and took it all in as his chest heaved heavily.

Mesmerized by the way his pupils had dilated, standing like an Adonis before her, Brennan propped herself on her elbows to fully appreciate her own view.

Like a panther hunting its prey, Booth moved lithely towards the bed, kneeling on either side of her leg as his mouth found her right nipple, puckered and tightened from his predatory gaze.

She gasped in pleasure as he suckled her, arching herself towards him as he ran his tongue over the tightened peak before trailing more kisses across to her left. Her hands moved to grasp his hair, pulling him yet closer to her, encouraging him to take as much of her into his mouth as he could.

It was then that she felt it – the raised scar at the back of his head, the reminder of his surgery under her fingers.

Instantly she froze, gasping back a sob as she sat up suddenly to Booth's surprise.

He looked at the distress on her face, confused by what had upset her so.

"Bones?" he asked as he caressed her cheek, surprised by the wetness of the tears that had escaped unheeded down her face.

She gulped back the lump that had painfully developed in her throat, as she pushed his hand away.

"Bones?" he repeated in anguish, moving his hands back to force her gaze back at him. "Talk to me. What's wrong? Did I do something? Look at me!"

She took a deep cleansing breath to calm her quaking chest, then looked him in the eyes. The torment she saw there was too much for her.

"I…your head…I…I don't know. What if…what if…"

"Hey, Bones, look at me. I'm fine. Everything is fine." His voice cracked slightly as he spoke to her, trying to convince her, to make her stay.

She looked at his earnest and tender face, wanting to believe him, but she had to ask.

"What if…what if I make a mistake? What if this all goes wrong?" she whispered, her eyes widening in fear.

He caressed her face once again, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Does this feel wrong to you Bones? If it does, then we should stop, but if it doesn't…I have never felt more sure of anything than you and me, right here – right now."

He brushed her lips once more with a tender kiss, then held his breath as he watched her work it out, much as he'd seen her do many times when she was examining evidence.

She looked at his earnest face, the face she had come to trust more than any other in her whole life, and decided to believe in it fully.

"I trust you, Booth. I…I want this…us, too."

It was all he needed to hear. He kissed her tenderly once more, willing all of his emotions to flow into her so that she could feel how much he was feeling, then deepened it quickly as he drank in her own passion as it blossomed within her.

Caressing her skin she writhed against him, inciting his arousal even more than before, now knowing that she was in this completely with him.

Brennan let herself free, letting Booth's ministrations awaken all of her senses, her skin tingling in his fingers' wake.

His fingers moved softly but purposefully as they hooked around the waistband of her panties and she moved her hips to allow him to slide them off. He quickly disposed of his own boxers before joining her once again astride her on the bed.

She gazed at him in wonder as he revealed himself to her, his prominent manhood swollen with desire for her. She knew that she herself was more than ready for him.

As he came to her side, she pressed her hands against his chest to force him onto his back, before beginning a trail of her own kisses along his smooth chest. He gasped and bucked as her tongue gently swirled over his pebbled nipples, tempting her to move her hands south.

He cried her name as her palm met the head of his penis, gliding smoothly over the shaft with his own lubricant provided.

Straining in her hand, Booth could barely control himself as he flipped her over onto her back and moved quickly to settle himself between her legs, which fell apart naturally in anticipation.

He paused momentarily, his warm brown eyes connecting with her darkened blue in a silent exchange of agreement, as he moved himself slowly to her wet centre.

Slowly, so slowly, he slid himself inside her as they both gasped at the connection through body and heart.

As he began to move in measured thrusts, she wrapped her legs around him and met him in each movement, moving deeper and faster with each slide home. Pleasure built easily and quickly between them, as neither could contain the pent-up passion of five years between them.

As her world exploded around her, she cried out his name in ecstasy at her climax, before he relinquished himself to his own, chanting his name for her in release.

Thoroughly spent, the couple lay together breathing heavily, languishing in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

After several minutes, Booth shifted to tenderly look down at his beautiful partner who was now his lover.

"I love you Bones," he whispered as he brushed a stray damp tendril of hair from her face.

She looked up at his satisfied face, noting the honesty in his eyes and in his words, and responded,

"I understand now…and I believe I love you too."

~The End~


End file.
